Gambit (Marvel Select)

November 21, 2011 | By More


 

If you have read any of my past Marvel reviews, you may have guessed I was a Gambit fan. I’ve reviewed the older Toy Biz Gambit and the Minimates version previously. So it should be no surprise when Figure of the Day offered the Marvel Select one, I’d snap him up.

Appearance:

This is full on classic Gambit. While his outfit may seem dated and impractical, I can’t imagine Gambit any other way.

The head is pretty good. The ears poking through and that great shock of hair popping out the top of that head piece. The eyes are small like they should be for somebody who’s a thief. I really am impressed with the beard here. Not too dark, it looks like the stubble that Remy is always portrayed with.

His other main trademark is his trench coat. And I have to say this Diamond out did themselves here. The big textured collar screams 80’s. The pain is really what sets it apart though.  There’s a wash to bring out the folds that gives the  whole thing a nice comic book feel. The coat liner is done in a slightly lighter color that really adds to the realism. Who knew somebody could pay attention to the inside and outside of a coat?

The one thing that bugs me a tiny bit about the coat is the wrists. Where his hands peg in, it is a flat area with little detail. This might make it easy to swap hands, but looks very odd when he’s picked your from a deck.

I’ll admit it. I don’t claim to understand X-men costumes, even Gambit’s. I will say that compared to just line art, this is pretty good look for these boots. They have the look of overlapping metal plates. The paint isn’t overly shiny or dull. It’s just right.

The magenta body and stripes on this pants are well done. The lines on the pants are crisps. Really, no complaints here. There’s a wash over his chest that highlights he musculature. Compared to how some figures look the joint in the chest is pretty camouflaged into the sculpt.

I was really glad to see they didn’t “buff” him up. Yes, he has muscles, but he’s more toned than bulk. He’s a thief ya know, ma chere?

Fun:

This is a little less clear for how I normally think about action figures. While $20 isn’t that much more than some of the bigger mass market figures, this probably isn’t a little person’s toy.

As I mentioned above, there are swappable hands here. A full open one for after the throw, and two other semi closed ones. The difference between those is pretty subtle, but one of them has the pinky and third fingers pressed in. Most likely this is a single card holding hand.

Of course, these hands would be useless without something to throw. Gambit comes with an assortment of energy charged cards. One is three cards together. The other two are three cards being thrown. I say cards, but I could say aces. Every card that you can see the face of is an ace. One of the card spreads has a molded spot for his open had to fit in so it appears he has just released them. The other doesn’t have this feature.

Lastly, Gambit comes with his staff. It’s essentially a big silver stick. Apparently Donatello is his favorite Turtle. Probably not the most exciting accessory, but certainly one he needs to come with.

While not an accessory, Remy comes with a Danger Room base. Two walls and a floor make up a small corner of the X-men training room. Well, I assume it is the Danger Room. It could stand in for a number of Marvel Universe locales from Magneto’s base to Arcade’s Murderworld. One thing to note, while it looks fairly substantial, it is a bit on the thin side. Also, mine has some scratches in the black paint. In the Danger Room, I could accept this as battle damage. However, since it is the only spot like that, it stands out.

I kind of dig the random square pattern. Don’t be surprised if this base turns up as the background in some other Marvel reviews from time to time. Turned on it’s side it would even work for Marvel Universe figures.

Speaking of other figures, that is one thing that almost stopped me from getting Remy. He’s at a bit of an odd scale. He’s shorter than a 12″ GI Joe but taller than a Marvel Legends figure. Since I don’t have any large number of superhero figures in any scale, it isn’t a huge deal for me. But, in fairness I wanted to warn folks.

He does stack up pretty well articulation wise. The coat doesn’t limit his motion much at all, which is pretty cool. It does, however, prevent him from doing any deep knee or kneeling poses.

Overall:

I think most folks who get these Select figures are going to be out in the sandbox playing with them. While Gambit isn’t perfect, he’s exactly what I was expecting. Of course, I bought him bought him with the express purpose of displaying my favorite X-men character on the shelf above my desk at home.

Engineernerd Score: 93/100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  1. Errex says:

    I don’t buy this line, but your review certainly piqued my interest. Gambit isn’t necessarily a character I like very much, but this figure looks quite nice and seems to have just the right amount of accessories.